11 Months

We're one month away from having a one year old! Thinking about when Ilyana was a newborn seems so long ago, however this year seems to have flown by so fast! Our little baby is becoming a toddler and her personality is becoming more clear every day. Miss independent (a.k.a. Ilyana) is smart, funny, curious, and energetic. She loves to climb anything and everything (I wonder who she got that from? *cough cough daddy*), read books, play with cars, and drum on every surface possible. She may look like her mommy but she sure takes after her dad! This month, she has really started to come out of her shell. She definitely still has some separation anxiety but we've finally hit a point where she can do great with babysitters and has even initiated contact with others! Much to Jake's delight, she has also become quite the daddy's girl. She will point out  pictures of daddy on our wall and loves to greet him with a huge smile, hug, and kiss when he gets home from work. Ilyana continues to eat and sleep great and is currently working on her 5th and 6th teeth. She switched to only one nap a day (most days) which has made her a lot more flexible, just in time for little brother to come and have his own schedule to work around! She has also learned to wave (and say) "hi" and "bye" and to use sign language to say "all done" after meal and bath time. She is working hard on learning to stand on her own and has taken 2 unassisted steps. Hopefully by next month she will have the confidence to take even more steps by herself!

Ilyana loves: Mommy and daddy, Super Why, dancing, babies, playing with cars and blocks, reading books, and bath time.

Ilyana doesn't like: being told no, broccoli, staying still.

10 months

Our sweet little Ilyana is now 10 months old! I can't believe how time flies. Ilyana has been getting bigger, stronger, and smarter every day. She pulls up to stand and cruise on everything possible and has been working on standing by herself for short periods of time, usually when she doesn't realize that she's doing it! This month she also learned how to climb up stairs (with our supervision of course), now if we could just teach her that crawling down the stairs is not an option like she seems to think... She has also become very interested in books recently. She loves to look at her books (and scatter them all over the living room in the process) and be read to. Her favorite book right now is "The Pout Pout Fish", and yes, I have it memorized at this point. She also loves to drum on objects so we're trying to take advantage of this and teach her how to give high-fives! She is still an awesome sleeper and eater. We figured out this month that she seems to have some issues with certain forms of dairy. She does fine with formula, but both cheese and yogurt make her super grumpy (I'm guessing her tummy hurts or some other form of unpleasantness that she can't express). Currently we're just staying away from any sort of dairy (besides formula) until we have a chance to talk to her pediatrician at her next appointment in February. Other than that she does great with food though! She loves fruit, shredded meat, steamed veggies, most anything that we give her. We're so excited to celebrate Ilyana's first Christmas later this week so keep an eye out for pictures!

Ilyana loves: standing and "walking", eating, bath time, her baby doll, mommy and daddy, Super Why, looking at pictures, reading books.

Ilyana doesn't like: being told "no", invasions of personal space, riding in the car for long periods of time.

Christmas Card 2015

Merry Christmas! I hope you are enjoying this (so far) relatively snow-free holiday season as much as we are! 2015 has been an exciting year in the Marzen household. In February we welcomed our beautiful daughter, Ilyana into our lives. She has been such a fun bundle of joy to have around! She is currently learning how to walk and is truly hoping to get her two front teeth for Christmas. 

This May we moved into our beautiful new home and also celebrated Jake graduating from Mt. Mercy College. Jake worked extremely hard and not only graduated Summa Cum Laude, which is a huge accomplishment in itself, but also graduated with the honor of the "top computer scientist" award. 

Moving day selfie!

At the beginning of June, Jake started working full time at Rockwell Collins as a software engineer. We both agree that it is such a relief to have him only working 8-5 instead of working full time along with a crazy class schedule! Also in June, Jake and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary; this has definitely been the best (and most busy) year of our marriage so far! Near the end of June we received the exciting news that we were expecting another little bundle of joy this coming March. We found out in October that this little bundle would be a boy! We are so excited to meet Mr. Ryker Paul!

All in all, this year has been jam packed with large and exciting events; none of which we would trade for a moment of peace and sanity! We look forward to celebrating this Christmas season and can't wait to see everything that 2016 brings.

9 months

I can't believe this is Ilyana's last single digit month! What happened to my snuggly little newborn? This past month Ilyana has really taken off developmentally. She has finally started doing more of a "traditional" crawl but wasn't content with that for long. She also has started pulling up to stand on everything possible, walking around with her activity walker, and even cruising holding onto furniture. It won't be long before she is walking! This month, she also had a burst of language development and can now say "mama", "dada", "hi", and "bye-bye" along with many other new sounds. It is such a joy to hear her chattering to herself throughout the day. Ilyana also experienced her first snowfall yesterday and today. She really enjoyed watching it fall and when we brought some inside for her to play with she really enjoyed eating it. This month also brought with it 2 teeth and some major separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is common at this age however Ilyana seems to be on the more extreme end of the spectrum currently. The best way to interact with Ilyana right now is to be respectful of her space bubble and talk and play with her while mommy or daddy are holding her, letting her lead the amount of interaction taking place. Although this can definitely be frustrating at times, we are very thankful that, so far, the separation anxiety hasn't had much of an effect on her sleeping habits. She is a rock star sleeper! She also is a rock star eater! This girl just loves to eat! She has said good-bye to purees and loves to feed herself. She will eat most anything we give her but especially likes meat, corn, strawberries, and blueberries. We're excited to see what she thinks of the thanksgiving turkey! We're really looking forward to celebrating the holiday season with our sweet girl!

Ilyana loves: Mommy and Daddy, bath time, drumming (this makes daddy very happy), chasing Nala, standing and walking, electronics, super why, her bunny, eating.

Ilyana doesn't like: people in her space bubble, mommy or daddy leaving, being told "no", being out of her normal routine.

8 months!

Ilyana is now 8 months old! She is getting so big so fast! She can sit, army crawl, and has even started pulling up on furniture to stand. She loves to play with her toys, explore the house (especially under the table), and eat. She's been eating most everything that we eat and loves being able to feed herself. Her personality is really starting to shine through, she's smart, silly, curious, obedient, introverted, and a home-body. She recently transitioned to only 2 naps a day, it's nice to have a little extra time in between naps to run errands and play with my sweet girl.

Ilyana loves: eating, playing, exploring the house, mommy and daddy, bath time, nala, "talking" to herself in the mirror, her bunny.

Ilyana doesn't like: being held by people other than mommy and daddy, getting out of the bath, going through a car wash, not being at home for long periods of time.

Ilyana weighs: about 15 lbs.

It's a... Boy!

Today we found out that Player4 is a boy! We are so excited to meet Mr. Ryker Paul! Originally we were scheduled to go in to the doctor for our anatomy scan next Friday, however after experiencing some cramping this week the doctor decided to have us come in a week early just to make sure everything was ok. Praise God, everything turned out to be just fine! Ryker's right kidney was slightly dilated (4.4 mm with 4.2 mm being 'normal'), however the doctor was not too concerned. We'll have another ultrasound in a month or two to check it again, however it's more than likely nothing to be worried about. We are so glad to have a happy and healthy little boy on the way! We've been having so much fun feeling Ryker kick over the past few weeks. He definitely is an active little guy! Besides the cramping this week, I've been feeling pretty good. I've struggled over the past month or two with some severe migraines, however the doctor suggested daily neck rubs and it seem to be helping quite a bit. I won't complain (about the lack of migraines or the nightly neck massages)! We are definitely looking forward to March and introducing Ryker into our little family!

7 Months

All of a sudden our sweet little baby is 7 months old! When did she get this big?? Ilyana is growing bigger and stronger every day. This past week she has been working hard on learning to sit. She has figured out how to get in and out of a sitting position, now she just needs the core strength to hold herself up. It's amazing to see how much stronger she gets every day! She has fallen in to a good 3 nap routine and has been sleeping 7 pm - 7 am most nights, which is great! She continues to love playing with other babies and with toys that she can bite or are musical. She's also become really interested in eating, if we eat in front of her we had better be prepared to share (if it's something she can have of course)! Her (and daddy's) favorite part of the day is watching outside for daddy to get home from work, as soon as she sees him get out of his car a big smile spreads across her face and she tries to leap out of my arms to get to him. It's adorable! She's entered into a bit of a clingy phase where mommy (and usually daddy) are the only people who can hold her. I'm just enjoying the love while she's in this season though!

Ilyana loves: Mommy and Daddy, other babies/kids, scratching different surfaces, putting everything in her mouth, eating, being thrown in the air, chasing Nala around.

Ilyana doesn't like: being held by other people, being told 'no', laying still for diaper changes.

Weight 13.5 lbs