No more curls!

Before ...

After...

We finally cut Ian's curls. It was getting pretty long and unruly. He was really good about it too. We sat him down on top of the toilet and Andrew used his hair cutting razor and cut off all of the curls. He didn't freak out until he started seeing all of his hair around him. We think he looks more like a little boy now with the curls gone.


Our friends Susanne and David came to visit this past weekend. Susanne took loads of pictures of Ian and Hannah and I finally got a chance to post them on the site. They're really good pictures of the kids so check them out.


I haven't been able to get online for very long lately. So let me update you on the stats for Ian and Hannah from our last doctor's visit.

Ian at two years and one month - 34 pounds, 9 ounces with clothes
Hannah at one month:
Weight - ll pounds, 1 ounce (93rd percentile)
Length - 21 1/4 inches (51st percentile)
Head Circumference - 15 (75th percentile)

The doctor says Ian and Hannah are doing great. They are progressing as expected at their ages.


Ian is still cute as ever and voicing his personality. He's bossy at times and will tell us "No Mommy" or "I sing (so Mommy will stop singing)" or still "Go away Mommy". He's very talkative sometimes although we can't understand everything he says. He loves Backyardigans and Elmo is in second place now. We're trying to get him to watch other cartoons like Wonder Pets, Wiggles, or whatever else is on Noggin or Disney Channel. Every tuesday and wednesday, we've been going to Rollie Pollie. He gets really excited when we turn in to the parking lot for it. He even says "Rollie Pollie" really cute. He's been coloring a lot at daycare and playing with playdoh. Surprisingly, Ian knows how to hold a crayon or marker correctly in his hand. Most toddlers are still gripping the crayon with the full hand. He's also really concentrating on his coloring, keeping the lines on the paper, and drawing long lines which is something he didn't do before. His new favorite thing is the car wash. He always wants to "clean car". So, every other week or so, we take our cars through the external wash so we can sit in the car and watch it get clean. He's also enjoying his train set that he got from his birthday. Ian is enjoying his artistic time as well. We purchased Ian a potty seat recently and he thinks of it as a toy and wants to sit on it all the time even though he doesn't go. Andrew and I have yet to actually start the training. I'm sure we'll have fun days ahead of us.


Hannah is getting bigger and cuter every day. She has long eye lashes and big eyes just like her brother. She eats about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. She's still easier to take care of than Ian was but lately she's not sleeping much during the day. She'll fall asleep in our arms and then as soon as we put her in her bed, she wakes up. She always falls asleep in the car seat though but I hate having her sleep there for too long. At night, she'll wake every 4 hours which is nice, so we'll get like a 2-3 hour stretch of sleep if Ian doesn't wake up in between. Her neck muscles are getting stronger and she can hold up her head for a several seconds. Hannah has also started to make cooing sounds that sound so cute and feminine.


Although Ian occasionally acts up when he gets frustrated and he hits us or his sister, the kids are getting along great. We have to keep reminding Ian to be gentle or quiet, but Hannah puts up with all of the noise and the times that Ian wants to hold his sister. Ian loves her though and always kisses her good night and good bye when he goes to daycare. He gets really excited when I pick her up and bring her to class with me. All of his friends at daycare go and check Hannah out and he'll proudly say loudly "NO, my sister".

Boys Will Be Boys

Ian and Daddy were walking into school yesterday when a spider had the temerity stroll across our path. Ian gave the offending spider his version of daddy’s Somebody Is Misbehaving look, stated, ”Ohhhh, yucky bug,” then gave the spider several quick open palm smacks.

I showed Ian that a shoe works better than a hand for bug removal. He agreed, then proceeded to wipe his hand on my pants.

August Update

It has been a busy month in the Marler home. We’ve had visits from grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, and cousins and everyone has enjoyed the time together. Ian was especially happy to have cousin Brandon come to visit us. He’d follow Brandon all over the house and try to mimic or play along with whatever Brandon was doing at the time. Brandon was a great sport about it and really did a fantastic job playing with Ian and being patient in explaining answers for the constant questions.

Hannah has had her one month checkup and she’s grown to a full 11+ lbs. She’s filling out and getting much stronger. Lately she will push up and turn her head from side to side to get a better view of the world. It may not seem like much but she’s come a long way from having no motor control just a few days ago. Hannah is also testing different ways to use her voice – a short loud yell usually lets us know when it is time for a bottle and not just the binkie. She’s also making more happy sighs and squeaks when her needs have been met and she’s ready for play or rest.

Ian is getting a full vocabulary and uses it all the time. He is showing signs of being a chatter box like his daddy at around the same age, and he really like trucks – toys and the real thing. On the way to school today he was pointing out the planes, buses and trucks when we came to a construction site that really got his attention.
“Daddy, truck.”
“Daddy, ’nuther truck…”
“Whoa! More truck.”
“LOTS of trucks!”
I think he would have prefered a morning watching the construction crew to a morning at school.

Ian has also gotten into the habit of singing whenever he’s playing or just moving around the house. He’s usually making up new words for 'Twinkle, Twinkle...', 'Itsy Bitsy Spider', or the 'ABC' song.

There are new pics up for those that have been asking to see the kids.

Now that we’ve doubled up on the kids we have less than half as much time to update the site so we will probably start doing mass picture updates once or twice a month from here on out – at least until the kids start sleeping through the night so mommy and daddy aren’t zombified.