Eight years ago today I said "I do" and today I still "do." I fall in love with Tom more every day. He's an amazing husband, my best friend, and a wonderful father. I'm looking forward to all of the years we have together in our future. Happy anniversary to us!

Happy Anniversary Toooouooooouuoooo Ussssssss

We spent our 7th anniversary watching the Redskins stink it up. We brought Lexi and had a lot of fun - she's so well behaved at the games and this time she slept through most of the game. She's such a happy baby.

Napping while waiting for everyone to arrive


This is how Lexi tailgates




"Get it together, Rex!"


"I can throw better than that!"

Happy 2 year blogiversary!

I started this "thing" as a way to share my pregnancy with you all since most of you were living far away. I'm sure now you wish I would stop sharing all the minutiae of our days. It's been so much fun keeping this up-to-date, especially since I started saving things for Stasa's baby book, but didn't get farther than the first few pages so I'm grateful I have this diary of her first years and love that it's complete with comments from our family and friends.  

Soooooo...happy 2 year blogiversary to what used to be A Merkel in the Making and is now Our Life with a Monster Masquerading as a Toddler.

9 months old & 39 weeks old

Stasa is now three quarters of a year old. She went to her 9 month well baby check-up this morning. Here are her stats:

21 lbs, 9 oz: 90th percentile for weight
27.5": 50th percentile for height
I forgot the head measurements, but she's still in the 25th percentile there.

Dr. Hunter said we can decrease the amount we're putting in her bottles for daycare, but we don't need to drop any feedings yet. She also gave us the go ahead to start meat so I think we'll start with chicken. We're thinking of grinding it and making chicken meatballs - something easy for her to feed herself. She's almost on all table foods which makes meal times messier, but easier for us. She even had a few bites of my apple crisp at dinner tonight.

Oh and now that she's close to 22 lbs, we made retired the infant car seat and made the official switch to the convertible carseat.

On to the pictures!
The bad little girl trying to break into the cabinets.


"Uh, mom, cut it out with the camera!"


"I weigh how much?!"

"No way am I that heavy!"

Stasa got dressed up for our anniversary dinner tonight.